Jakarta Horror Punks Kelelawar Malam​​ Tell Us About The Stuff That Gives Them Nightmares

It's easy to call Kelelawar Malam Indonesia's answer to the Misfits. Both bands have a ghoulish fascination with B-movie horror schlock, a penchant for creepy baritone vocals, and an uncanny sense of melody for a punk band. The band's early song " Palu Keadilan" was a dead-ringer for Danzig in his prime, complete with sinister vocals, ripping guitar solos, and a second act that turns into a full-throated barroom singalong.

But the Jakarta-based band is, in all likelihood, having way more fun than anyone in the Misfits have probably had in years.

Now Kelelawar Malam is back with an album that comes a full seven full years after their debut full-length. In between, the band added enough thrash metal influence to justify listing Satan as one of their biggest influences. Just listen to this ripper off their new album Jalan Gelap (Dark Street).

VICE Indonesia's Marcel Thee talked about the band's morbid fascination with gore, Robocop's love of shooting below the belt, and why missing a football match might be the scariest thing of all.

VICE Indonesia: You're all huge horror movie fans, right? What's your favorite scene? What creepy stuff really stuck with you all these years? 
Al Maut: There are so many. But my favorite would be the scenes in the Thai horror film Art of the Devil 2 where the teacher with the black magic skills puts a hex on her students. She makes it so some of them can see ghosts. One of the students gets so stressed that he rips his own eyes out before dunking his face into a pot of boiling hot oil. 
Buto: The first Ju-On where Kayako is coming down the stairs. Oh man, that sound she makes!
Beringas: In Bram Stroker's Dracula where those vampire concubines were licking Keanu Reeves' nipples. Watching that was great for the kid version of me. It helped me grow up quick.

You guys are really into gore too right?
Al Maut: Oh there's this other scene in Art of the Devil 2 where one of the santet victims gets these blotches all over herself, and they explode and tiny cecak come out of them!
Mongol: I've watched a lot of Mexican cartel execution videos. Those things are a horror show—just gruesome. But my favorite film is The Exorcist. 
Mencekam: Nothing is more gory than all these politician zombies roaming around everywhere. 
Beringas: Or that scene where Robocop shoots that guy in the dick.

Did all this horror stuff ever give you nightmares?
Beringas: Ghostbusters because when I watched it I was so young that I couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't. 
Buto: Oh, the TV version of Stephen King's It! That movie made my fear of clowns even worse.
Mongol: Any movie with paintings in it still creeps me out. Especially when the paintings are dripping with blood. Paintings, especially old ones, still freak me out. 
Al Maut: That scene in Malam Satu Suro where this little boy is trying to do his daily prayers, but the ghosts are staring at him from the window freaking me out.

Why do you think Indonesians are so fascinated with the supernatural?
Al Maut: Desperation and a shortcut-first mentality might be the main factors. But, whatever, it's good for our band right?

So why did it take seven years to record a follow-up to your first full-length?
Al Maut: It was a combination of our personal lives keeping us busy. And the fact that there were three of us then and now there are five of us. Mongol joined us not too long ago, as did Buto. But the recording really only took a year. We wanted to maximize a formation with three guitars playing together. And obviously the new guys brought a lot of new color to the band too.

What's Jalan Gelap about? Is there an unifying theme?
Al Maut: It's pretty much like our first record. And it's not always just horror in terms of ghosts. It's not just conventional horror books or movies, but also stuff that could be considered "dark," anything that happened between people, nature, and God.

Did anything particularly creepy happen in the years between the two albums?
Mongol: I got a flat tire at one in the morning in the middle of some Godforsaken coconut field. 
Al Maut: The warung near my house ran out of [red wine infused] kolesom jamu.
Buto: For a while, this jinn lookalike kept waking me up to do my morning prayers. It was my mother. 
Beringas: Sleeping through the World Cup finals. That was horrific.